About a few years ago the local govenrments in certain cities decided to jazz up the manholes for tourists. They enlisted lots of well known street artists to do the job – you can see more across Tokyo.

Recently visited an exhibition on Berlin about manhole covers: the influence and aid of German engineers in the creation of a sewing system in Japan is very important. The esthetic is only a secondary aspect in creating these lids:they have to prevent a too slippery terrain and, also, be made so that they are not pushed into the street by the pressure in the sewer.
They are very cute, nevertheless…